Posted30 avril 2022, 04:53
The two leaders discussed on Friday “unprecedented” immigration flows across the US-Mexico border, a headache for the US administration ahead of the midterm elections.
Joe Biden at the White House on April 29, 2022.
Getty Images via AFP
US President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke by videoconference on Friday. The call lasted just over 50 minutes, according to the White House. The leaders discussed the complex relations between the two neighboring countries, which are inextricably linked in terms of trade but also legal and illegal migration and drug trafficking.
“A lot of the conversation was regarding migration and the ongoing work of coordination, economic coordination, and what steps to take to reduce immigration along the border,” the door-to-door spokesperson said following the call. White House spokesman Jen Psaki.
“Unprecedented flow”
“Given the unprecedented flows of migrants from across the hemisphere to our two countries, the presidents reiterated the need to build stronger tools to manage regional migratory surges,” the White House said in a statement later that evening. communicated. “To this end, they agreed to strengthen our collaboration to support fair, humane and effective efforts to reduce irregular migration,” the US executive added.
The White House assures that Joe Biden wants to highlight his desire to cooperate with President Lopez Obrador, in contrast, according to him, with the unfriendly approach of Donald Trump. “Over the past year, we have worked very hard to rebuild the bilateral relationship,” a senior US official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
And according to Jen Psaki, “the tone of the call was very constructive”. “It was not a call where President Biden threatened the Mexican president in any way,” she asserted.
“Monumental Challenges”
With the specter of a midterm legislative defeat hovering over the Democrats, the issue of illegal immigration was at the top of the discussion agenda.
According to the senior US official, “monumental challenges” across the globe – ranging from the climate crisis to war in Ukraine to food insecurity – are driving “unprecedented levels of migration”.
At the end of the meeting, the Mexican president indicated on Twitter that his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, would go to Washington on Monday “to make progress on matters of cooperation for development and on the summit of the Americas” which is to bring together in June in Los Angeles the countries of the American continent.
The Mexican president must himself go from May 5 to 9 to Central America and Cuba, with stops in the three countries from which caravans of migrants leave (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras). This trip is quite exceptional for a president who has traveled little abroad since coming to power at the end of 2018. Mr. Lopez Obrador has made three visits to the United States.
«Title 42»
The already complicated situation at the US-Mexico border has been brought back to the center of attention recently with Joe Biden’s announced desire to end “Title 42”, a device linked to Covid-19 which for two years has allowed the immediate expulsion of migrants arrested at the border. Opponents of the device say it is no longer justified, but Republicans and some Democrats predict its removal will lead to an uncontrolled influx at the border.
Even without these restrictions being lifted, US border police have apprehended an average of 7,800 undocumented migrants each day for the past three weeks, nearly five times more than the average of 1,600 migrants recorded between 2014 and 2019, before the pandemic. .
Both political sides in Washington agree that there is a problem. The White House is talking regarding a “broken” immigration system that Congress needs to fix, while Republicans accuse Joe Biden of failing to protect the country’s southern border.
(AFP)
